An Inquiry into Relationships Between Demographic Factors and Teaching, Social, and Cognitive Presence

Abstract

One-third of all college students leave their institution after the first year. As exponential growth continues at online institutions of higher education, it is vital to uncover factors that contribute to student success and therefore impact persistence and matriculation. The Community of Inquiry framework includes three presences, teaching, cognitive, and social designed to assess the educational experience of the online learner. In this study, approximately 113,000 cases from a large national fully online university were examined to determine if student characteristics, e.g., student gender, ethnicity, and age, are a factor in the level of the three presences. Multiple semester sessions were analyzed across curricular areas. Results and recommendations are discussed.

Teaching, social, and cognitive presences and their relations to students’ characteristics and academic performance in blended learning courses in a Tanzanian University

“…This shows that age is not an important variable in the studied blended learning courses. Contrary to the findings of this study, Gibson, Ice, Mitchell and Kupczynski (2012) find that the age of traditional students is significantly related to CoI presence. Nevertheless, Choy and Quek (2016) find that age is negatively associated with cognitive presence, continuous achievement and academic achievement.…”

Moderation Effect of Gender on Relationship between Community of Inquiry and Perceived Learning in Blended Learning Environments

“…Today, perceived learning is used as the principal data source for measuring program success. Therefore, exploring the perceptions of students is sought to ensure quality of the learning experience It is conceivably important that demographic variables such as gender may have an impact on CoI and perceived learning (Gibson et al, 2012;Shea, Sau-Li, & Pickett, 2006). For example, previous research indicates that there is a relationship between gender and CoI elements (Garrison, et al 2010).…”

Fostering Cognitive Presence in Online Courses: A Systematic Review (2008-2020)

“…The third presence (and focus of this paper) is cognitive presence, which is defined as the exploration, construction, resolution, and confirmation of understanding through collaboration and reflection in a community of inquiry (Garrison, 2007). Cognitive presence is grounded in critical thinking literature (Garrison et al, 1999;2001) and operationalized through the cycle of practical inquiry, in which participants move deliberately from understanding the issue to exploration, integration, and application (Garrison, 2007;Gibson et al, 2012). Cognitive presence is of particular interest in online courses, in which the community established within the virtual arena is paramount (Abe, 2020;Fiock, 2020).…”

“…The four phases of the Practical Inquiry Model are: a triggering event, exploration, integration, and resolution (Figure 1; Garrison et al, 2001;Garrison, 2007;Gibson et al, 2012;Moore et al, 2019).…”

“…Additionally, suggest that the central role of teaching presence is establishing and maintaining social and cognitive presence. The learner navigates the learning environment (created through teaching presence) and engages with peers and content (social presence) to develop higher-order thinking skills (cognitive presence) (Gibson et al, 2012). Teaching presence brings the social and cognitive presences together and accounts for learners' needs and capabilities (Garrison & Anderson, 2003;Kreijns et al, 2014).…”